underneath all the layers that I knew
by callmesandy
Summary: A lot of firsts. (sex, date, couple event, fight, holiday with family/meeting the family (both sets), sleepover when Emma's home, house.) (takes place a few days after but, honey, you just moved in.)
1. Chapter 1

Not mine, no profit garnered. For the trope bingo squares tentacle porn and free space. For the GWYO bingo setting seen below. Title from the Aimee Mann song Good For Me.

* * *

Amy couldn't sleep. She looked at Jonah, sleeping like a baby, and felt awful. Not exactly awful, but not great. This was supposed to be their big sex night but instead Amy had been so exhausted, they ate take out and went to sleep. Jonah went to sleep.

It wasn't like she hadn't had sex since the divorce. She'd dated six guys, went on at least 10 dates, had had sex with two of them. She'd even enjoyed it. She wasn't afraid of doing it with Jonah, it would probably be great. But she was being a tease, not dating him, making out with him, and now she just went to sleep.

"Stop thinking so hard," Jonah murmured.

"I'm sorry," Amy said.

"Shush," Jonah said. "You don't need to be sorry." She genuinely loved the feel of his skin against hers. He was all warm and baby-skinned. Which was a horrible way to describe a grown man she really wanted to fuck.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She actually fell asleep.

When Amy woke up, she was alone in bed. She could hear Jonah brushing his teeth in the kitchen. Why would he do that? She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, too. She looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look so bad for her age. She was pretty hot, frankly.

She sat down on the bed and took off her shirt. Then she took off her underwear. She'd brought an overnight bag like a whore. Or like an independent woman who was responsible and ready for sex. With her very slightly younger boyfriend. Who kind of worked for her. That was hot, too.

"Jonah," Amy said. "Come back."

He did come back, smiling, in his silly boxers. They were silly, completely silly, with absurd smiling trees on them. He was staring at her, his jaw dropping a little. She took the compliment. "Wow," Jonah said. "You are really gorgeous. And sexy."

"You're halfway across the room, it's going to be really hard to have sex with so much distance," Amy said. She was sure she was blushing.

"Good point, good point." He didn't trip on his way to the bed, Amy was a little surprised. He sat next to her and she hooked a finger into the waistband of the stupid trees. "Right," Jonah said. "Let me take these off. Oh, we already had that talk, like you're on the pill, right. And no STIs."

"Right, we don't need to use condoms. Unless you want to," Amy said.

"I don't hate condoms, of course. Birth control, STD protection, who doesn't love condoms? But it definitely makes things easier not to use them," Jonah said.

She tapped his knee. "Stop talking."

"Good point," Jonah said.

He pulled her on top of him as he laid down on the bed. They kissed and she ran her hands down his chest to his dick. He kissed her neck and then onto her breasts. She felt his fingers between her legs and she spread her legs wider. He looked up from her boobs and said, "Tell me what you want."

"Pretty good so far," Amy said.

It was pretty good and even great. He had a way with his fingers and his mouth on her breast, she had almost come already before he was even inside her. She pushed his chest down and sat up slowly while he was fucking her. He said, "Oh, man, fuck, this view is really nice."

"Thank you," she said. She came and he kept going until he groaned, loudly.

"Amy," he said. He had the most blissed out smile. She thought she probably did, too.

They cleaned up and got dressed and Jonah took her out to breakfast. "I can't believe you're taking me to a diner. There's nothing artisanal here, I'm a little disappointed."

"I know a place that's a little further out where they use eggs straight from the chickens in the back, if you want. Next time," Jonah said.

"That actually sounds really good," Amy said. "What are we going to do with the rest of this day?"

"More sex? Play some video games? I'm open," Jonah said.

"I like the sound of both of those," Amy said. "But I do want some actual dating experiences."

"Go see the Arch?"

She glared at him. "You remember that I grew up here, right?"

"I've already been, actually," Jonah said.

"With Naomi?"

"No, I went by myself," Jonah said. "I do that a lot. I used to go all over Manhattan by myself when I was a teenager."

"Of course Manhattan. I knew you grew up in New York, but not just New York, New York City and actually Manhattan," Amy said. "I assume it's not actually like Sex and the City and Gossip Girls."

"No, it's exactly like both of those shows," Jonah said. "They're basically documentaries."

"You're being sarcastic," Amy said.

"It was actually a lot more dull and much more Jewish than both those shows," Jonah said.

"And then you went to Oberlin and then you volunteered all over the world -"

"I did some of that during my college breaks," Jonah said. "And then I had a bunch of internships my dad got me, and then business school and you know all the rest."

"I can't believe Cloud 9 was your first real job," Amy said. "Though that does explain your incompetence."

"I'm much better than I used to be," Jonah said.


	2. Chapter 2

"So," Amy said, approaching Jonah cautiously at work. She probably didn't need to be cautious. She sighed. "Hey."

"So," Jonah said, leaning in. "Hey. I'm waiting."

"Emma's play is next week," Amy said.

"That's awesome. We ran lines, you know." Jonah looked a little smug. "She's going to be great."

"She wants you to come, you and me. Us," Amy said.

"Oh, wow, that's great, that's super great. Do you want me to come?" He was doing that irritating hand fidget thing.

Amy shrugged. "Of course." She shook her head. "Mostly. It's just, you know, first event as a couple. Adam and Shelly are coming. And my parents. And Adam's parents. And I'll be like, hey, here's my boyfriend."

"You don't want me to come? You're embarrassed by me," Jonah said, slowly.

"No, not at all," Amy patted his hand on the end cap. Maybe she shouldn't have done this at the store. "I'm just, you know, it's a first. It's weird."

"Sure, sure," Jonah said. "These were all Adam events and then you got used to going alone and now there's me. I've met all those people, though, except Adam's parents. I think only Shelly really dislikes me."

"Adam's pretty neutral on you," Amy said. "But he doesn't dislike you. His parents will. So you should definitely come."

"Because irritating Adam's parents is still a thing that's important to you, okay," Jonah said.

"Don't judge me, we can talk after your first divorce," Amy said.

Jonah just nodded and made awkward mouth expressions. Amy said, "What?"

"Well, it's not important. You don't want me to go, I won't go," Jonah said. He looked a little sad. She felt like shit.

"I do want you to go. It's just, you know. It's hard. I mean, we're dating. You're my boyfriend, Emma knows you're my boyfriend, she likes you. I'm just being stupid. You should totally come."

"Sure, okay," Jonah said. He even smiled. "Good."

The night of the play, Jonah picked Amy up. He had the nicer car. He was wearing a nice gray suit. He said, "Am I wearing too much? Overdressed?"

"No, you look boyishly handsome. You look very boyish," Amy said. "In a good way. Unless you can grow some stubble really quick and look less boyish."

"I just shaved, sorry," Jonah said. "Should I ditch the blazer?"

"No," Amy said. "I'm overreacting."

"You look beautiful," Jonah said. "I also got the car washed and waxed. Do you want me to park next to Adam's parents, or Adam and Shelly?"

"You're so sweet," Amy said. "Adam's parents."

Emma wasn't the only one with 8 people thronging around her, complimenting her on her performance. But Amy was pretty sure Emma had been the best in the show. Shelly said something ridiculous, Amy rolled her eyes and then reached for Jonah's hand. Where he wasn't.  
She looked around and saw Jonah casually talking to some other student in the play. He was sitting a few seats away and looked engrossed. Jonah loved those theater kids. Emma looked over and said, "That's Ray. I guess his mom couldn't come. Is Jonah going to make you give him a ride home?"

"If he needs a ride home, maybe," Amy said. "Is Ray a jerk?"

"No, he's pretty cool."

Shelly said, "We're giving you a ride home so you're not stuck with 12 year old hitchhikers."

"We don't know he doesn't have a ride home," Amy said.

"That seems like a nice thing to do," Amy's mom said.

"I'm going to check on the reality of situation," Amy said.

She sat down next to Jonah. Jonah was saying, "When I was in middle school, we did the Crucible and you wouldn't believe who was cast in the lead."

Ray laughed. "Not you?"

"So political," Jonah said. "You were great in your role. You know, we filmed it but I think we're going to have 3 different recordings, but I can totally email your mom my copy. If you'd want."

"Cool," Ray said, nodding his head. "She's on her way to pick me up. She just has to work late sometimes."

"We can wait with you," Amy said. "I'll just go tell Emma."

By the time Ray's mom showed, It was nearly 10 pm. Jonah and Ray were playing something on his phone and Amy was composing hate mail to this woman in her head. She grimaced at Jonah.

Ray's mom rushed in, nearly in tears. Amy melted in empathy, at least she'd never had to do it all by herself. Jonah was completely kind and playing it off like it was nothing, like neither he or Amy was set to open the next morning.

Ray's mom apologized profusely, Jonah and Amy both said it was no bother. Jonah said, "Do you have, you know, I filmed the play, and we have probably 5 different perspectives on it. So I could send you a copy and if there isn't enough Ray, I'll check with Emma's grandparents. The ones that like me."

Ray's mom smiled. "In-laws are the worst."

"Oh, I'm not an in-law," Jonah said. "Just a boyfriend."

"Technically he doesn't have to deal with my former in-laws," Amy said. "We should let you guys go, I know it's late."

Ray and Jonah did some sort of fist bump explosion hand sign as they said goodbye. When they got in the car, Jonah said, "Sorry for making a shit impression on Adam's parents."

"Only because they're assholes," Amy said. "They're not assholes. They really love Emma, they were really helpful to us when Emma was young. It's more like they blame me for the divorce, and they're much better than Shelly at taking it out on me and not Emma, so they were pretty much already disposed to dislike you. Just on principle. Unlike Adam, I've only had this one serious relationship. Since the divorce."

Jonah nodded. He looked nervous. She said, "Which is fine. I don't need to date 10 different guys to find one I like. You're awesome."

"Thanks," Jonah said.

Amy said, "So, why did you spend half the post-play time with the kid who didn't have his parents there? I assume there are reasons from your childhood."

"My parents went to all my events in elementary school. They even brought my brothers," Jonah said.

"And then ..." She loved Jonah, but he was always so weird about things like his childhood and his relatives.

"Oh," Jonah said. He glanced over at her and then back to the road "My mother died when I was 10. So after that it was just my dad and he was pretty busy. Big time accounting guy. Very busy. I'd just get a cab home. It wasn't psychologically damaging or anything like that, but it's nice when people come see your events."

"I'm sorry about your mother," Amy said. "I've known you all this time and we've been dating for months and this is the first time it's come up."

"What?" Jonah kept his eyes firmly on the road. "It's just not something that comes up."

"And your dad hasn't remarried," Amy said.

"No, he got married when I was 16," Jonah said.

"So you have a stepmother," Amy said.

"No, I do not," Jonah said. "I was 16, she was not any kind of mother to me. Her sons aren't my stepbrothers, they were both working, out of college and working when my dad married Sharon."

"Technically, you have a stepmother." Amy said. Now she had discovered a whole new thing Jonah was incredibly weird about.

"That's her legal title, I guess, but she's just my dad's wife," Jonah said. "I'm totally fine with her, so this isn't a thing."

"No, totally not. You don't sound like you have a thing at all," Amy said. "Sometimes I think I'd like a little warning for all these little hidden bombs in your life."

"It's not a bomb," Jonah said. "My dad dated Sharon for three months before they got married, it was a very uncomfortable and crappy transition, but we all get along fine now that we've all settled the issues that were at hand."

"Like how dare anyone call a stepmother some sort of a stepmother?" Amy wondered when she'd started getting belligerent. She felt a little angry, genuinely angry. Why exactly did Jonah always gloss over everything vaguely negative? Didn't he love her enough to actually feel his emotions?

"I'm fine with other people being called stepmothers or whatever, just not Sharon," Jonah said, actually angry. "Why are you angry about this?"

"Why are you always like this?" Amy put her hands up and then clasped them together in her lap. "Okay, sorry. I don't care about your fucked up relationship with your father's wife -"

"It's not fucked up. She sent me a birthday card with an Amazon giftcard," Jonah said. "I keep in touch with her and her sons, I've met all their kids, I'm sure I'll be invited to their bar and bat mitzvahs."

"I get it, you're completely normal," Amy said. "Except you're really not. Which is fine. Nobody's normal. But sometimes I feel like you're always playing this part of Jonah, everything's fine, I'm good, let's love this world and passing butterflies. Which you don't have to do with me. I would still love you."

"I'm not playing a part," Jonah said, gritting his teeth. "This is who I am. If you wanted anxious and negative Jonah, you came along too late."

"I don't want that, I just want you," Amy said, deflated. "I just want you to feel like you can be you with me."

"I totally feel that way," Jonah said. "Should I just drop you off here? Am I not enough me right now to come in?"

Amy picked at her nails. "Are we on to make up sex yet?"

"I don't know, I'm still kinda pissed at you," Jonah said.

"Should we keep arguing?"

"What are we even fighting about?" Jonah sighed.

"I don't know," Amy said. "Sometimes you feel very opaque to me."

"I'm not hiding things from you," Jonah said. He sounded sad. "I would never hide things from you. I just, honestly, I really don't talk about this stuff. I've already had, like, four shrinks, so I'm pretty talked out on most of these topics. Also, once I stopped caring about being the person my father wanted me to be and just went with what makes me happy, I've actually been pretty happy."

"Okay," Amy said. "But I feel like I'm not coming out of nowhere with this."

"Sure," Jonah said. "I guess I'm a little opaque."

"So now make up sex?" She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I think that's probably a good idea," Jonah said. "Relationship wise. Reconnect."

"Oh god, you talk so sexy," Amy said, smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

They were back at the same diner they went to for their first date. Jonah said, "So. Christmas day with the Sosa family. That was, huh. I didn't expect it to have so much -"

"Tentacle porn?" Amy sat back and poked at her salad. Why did she order salad at this place? "I'm sorry, my brother is a little weird, sometimes."

"He already had the stuffed octopus, right? The stuffed animal wasn't something he got to demonstrate all of that to us," Jonah said.

"He already had that," Amy said. "I thought the rest of it went well."

"Emma had fun," Jonah said. "Sucks you won't see her for a few days."

"Adam and Shelly and his parents are all going, and Emma likes 90% of those people, so it was what she wanted," Amy said. She pushed her salad away. "All the Christ stuff wasn't overwhelming, right?"

"Well, I grew up in the US, so I'm pretty used to it. Does your uncle really think if we were, in the future, I would convert?" Jonah rubbed the back of his neck and ate more fries.

Amy started taking from his plate. "He goes to a weird church, like, more like Glenn's church than the rest of us."

"When do you go to church?"

"Christmas and Easter," Amy said. "Or if Emma wants to go. Or my mom makes me."

"If we ever meet my family, all that convert pressure will be on you," Jonah said.

"Our families are alike in that way," Amy said.

Jonah nodded.

Amy said, "What?"

He shrugged. "Okay, this is super hypothetical, no pressure, just hypothetically if I was getting married to a woman and we were thinking of having children, it would be important to me that my kids were raised Jewish."

"Oh," Amy said. She ate more of Jonah's fries. She said, "Important?"

Jonah went for another shrug. So communicative. He said, "Important. Plus, for a kid to be Jewish, their mother has to be Jewish."

"Is that the full on conversion like Charlotte in Sex and the City? For your family?"

"No, no," Jonah said. "We're not Orthodox. Well, some of the family is. Aunt Linda and Uncle Dick, their kids. But no, my family, it would mostly be the less strenuous conversion. Plus, you're not supposed to convert just because of the kids."

"That's a conundrum," Amy said. "Hypothetically. Lot to think about on Christmas Day."

Jonah said, "Did you want to go back to tentacle porn? I can look up websites."

"But, okay, hypothetically, you're not making Emma convert?"

"No, no," Jonah said. "I'm not derailing everything, am I?"

"No," Amy said. "Do I hypothetically still get to have a Christmas tree?"

"I've never had one," Jonah said. "Or stockings, or Santa."

"It's fun," Amy said. "Wasn't that fun? And we have all those ornaments that Emma made or I made when I was a kid."

"That was fun," Jonah said. "It's not, you know, for me it feels like visiting, you know, going to another country."

"Like Honduras?" Amy smiled. She'd finished all of Jonah's fries.

"No, still America. And I got at least 40% of what everyone was saying. I do speak Spanish," Jonah said.

"40% is good," Amy said. "Do you like Easter?"

"I like the candy," Jonah said. He reached across and held Amy's hand. "Super hypothetical, okay? We're not having those discussions, right?"

Amy exhaled. "We could."

"Are we there yet?"

"I feel like we're, like, halfway up the mountain," Amy said. "We're exclusive, right?"

"Absolutely," Jonah said. "You and only you."

"And you've met my family and Emma," Amy said. "We've said I love you."

"Even over the intercom at work," Jonah said. "Stupid Garrett and his stupid dares."

Amy had Emma for New Year's Eve and she insisted on trying to stay up midnight. They went Amy's parents' place again, like Christmas Day. Amy might have gotten a little drunk, but not so drunk she was talking too loud. She leaned against the back of the couch where Jonah and Emma were watching some cartoon about avatars. "I love this episode," Emma said.

"Me, too," Jonah said. "Have you finished watching -"

"No spoilers," Emma said, rolling her eyes.

People were starting to get sleepy and the crowd was thinning out. Jonah and Emma were still going strong. She sat down next to Emma. "Are you sleepy, girl?"

"I'm good, Mom, I can make it," Emma said. She looked over at Jonah. "Hey, Jonah, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, kiddo," Jonah said.

"Mom said your mom died," Emma said. "When you were a kid."

"That is not technically a question," Jonah said, smiling. "But yeah. When I was a little younger than you."

"What happened?" Amy really wanted to pinch Emma for asking that.

"Uh," Jonah said. He glanced at Emma. "Car accident. She was in a taxi, actually, everyone takes the taxi where we lived, and another taxi smashed into her taxi. It was pretty quick, according to what I was told."

"That super sucks," Emma said.

"It does," Jonah said.

Emma said, "If you marry my mom, do I have to convert to Judaism?"

"Nope," Jonah said. "Who said that?"

"Shelly," Emma said with a little eye roll.

"Emma," Amy said. "Theoretically, in the future, which is not now, if Jonah was married and had kids -"

"With you," Emma said.

"Sure," Amy said. She thought, probably me. She said, "Jewish kids have Jewish moms."

"So you won't marry Mom," Emma said to Jonah.

"I can convert," Amy said. "Still pretty far in the future, Emma. Do you want to make this more awkward?"

Emma giggled. "I'll switch places so you can make out at midnight."

"You're a saint," Jonah said.

Emma and Jonah fell asleep around five minutes after midnight. Amy wandered back to the kitchen to make some coffee. She was letting Jonah drive, he barely drank again, but it would not suck to sober up. Her mother was leaning against the counter. "Wait, are you really going to convert to Judaism?"

"I don't know, Mom," Amy said. "I'm not even sure if I'll get married to Jonah, much less have kids with him."

"But you love him," Mom said.

"Sure, but things happen and love changes and i don't know if we're there yet," Amy said. "And yes, I'd like more kids, but I'd like a better job, too. I'd like a lot of things."

"Why wouldn't you marry Jonah? He's such a nice man," Mom said. "I like him more than Adam, frankly."

"Mom," Amy said. "You'd freak out if I was suddenly Jewish. No stockings, no Christmas tree, no Easter eggs."

"Emma can come over here and have all that. She's over here all the time, anyway. You can come over here," Mom said.

"You just want more grandchildren," Amy said.

"You're a great mom," Mom said. "Am I so evil?"

"Ugh," Amy said. She walked out and rubbed Jonah's shoulder. "Wake up."

Jonah slowly opened his eyes. "Time to go?"

"Time to go," Amy said. She nudged Emma. "Time to go, kiddo."

The two of them were woke up enough that she spent the whole car ride listening to them talk about Avatar, the last Airbender. She made the mistake of mentioning the movie and they both practically hissed at her. Apparently it wasn't a very good movie.

They got to Amy's little house and Jonah didn't move to undo his seatbelt. Amy said, "Oh my god, stay the night. It's okay, right, Emma?"

"Yeah," Emma said. "Totally okay."

"Okay," Jonah said tentatively. "Hello, 2017."


	4. Chapter 4

LaGuardia was not quite as exciting as Amy expected. She had probably built up the whole New York City experience in her head. At least she was well-rested, unlike Jonah who had been brimming with anxiety every time she woke up. She wondered if this was what he was like before Cloud 9. It was ludicrous to think Cloud 9 had been good for someone. Then there was Jonah.

Jonah had checked a bag even though it was only three days. She had thought about saying something about overpacking but, on the other hand, Jonah was a ball of anxiety and it seemed mean. She should have taken Tate up on that offer of Xanax for help flying, she could have offered Jonah some.

Jonah was looking at his phone when a 40 something white guy walked up to them, saying, "Hey, Jonah."

Jonah sort of smiled. He said, "Hey, I didn't know you were coming. I was just going to get an Uber or a taxi."

"You don't have to," strange man said. "By the way, I'm Jack." He held his hand out to Amy.

Amy smiled and said, "Hey."

Jonah said, "This is Sharon's oldest son, Jack. Jack, this is Amy. And I guess he's our ride. You know, actually, I don't have a key to the apartment so it's good to have someone let us in."

"Oh, Mom's home," Jack said. "Hey, Amy, so I hear you're from Honduras."

"My parents are, I'm from St. Louis," Amy said.

"Right," Jack said. "Sorry. My neighbors in Brooklyn are from Honduras. She's a professor at Medgar Evers, the college. I think it's literature. I have no idea what her husband does. He wears a suit when he leaves for work."

"Suit jobs," Jonah said. "Those are nice. Amy's dad is an artist."

"Not really," Amy said. "I don't have enough boyfriends he can intimidate into buying his paintings to count as an actual living."

There was a brief moment of complete awkwardness as Jonah and Amy were deciding who would sit in the front seat, but Amy said, "Okay, I'll sit here."

"I'll sit back here with the car seat," Jonah said. "Jack, isn't Rachel too old for a car seat? Oh, god, did I miss that you had a second kid?"

"You did not," Jack said, amiably. Amy would bet Jonah would describe it that way. "They keep updating the recommendations, and Debbie reads them religiously, and Rachel is short so yeah. Still in a car seat."

"We had Emma in one until three years ago," Amy said. "Emma is my daughter. She's also short."

Jack was easy to talk to. They talked about daughters and when she looked in the back seat, Jonah was already asleep. She said, "He did not sleep on the flight."

"Sounds like Jonah," Jack said.

"I guess," Amy said. "He never has trouble sleeping in St. Louis."

"St. Louis is good for him, I guess," Jack said.

"I think so," Amy said, firmly. She was being a little defensive, she thought. "But what do I know?"'

"Wake him up," Jack said. They were pulling into a parking lot underneath a damn nice looking building.

Sharon was short and kind of looked like Estelle Getty in that Sylvester Stallone movie. She seemed nice. She and Jonah did a weird almost hug dance that Amy was glad to avoid. Amy said, "Do we have plans for now? I think maybe a little nap would be nice."

"For me," Jonah said. "You got your sleep on the plane. I should have taken up Tate's offer."

"I was just thinking that, seriously," Amy said.

"Tate?" Sharon had a tight smile.

"Just someone we work with," Jonah said. "He's not, Tate's actually awful, frankly."

"He really is. He's always been," Amy said.

Sharon nodded. Jonah directed Amy back to their room. "Is this really your childhood bedroom?"

"Not really," Jonah said. "It is, but it's basically been a guest room for the last few years. I think even the mattress is new. Definitely those bookshelves, all the books, the TV is way better."

"It's a nice mattress," Amy said. "Seriously, you should sleep. Were you always this anxious and wound so tight?

"Yes," Jonah said. "Thank you, I was. I hear I was a carefree toddler, so there's that."

"It's okay," Amy said. "I don't mind."

"You're gonna tell Garrett, aren't you?"

"Of course, but it's not like you were ever cool," Amy said.

Jonah got up off the bed and started opening his suitcase. Amy said, "Jonah, I can do that."

"You don't have to. I'm a fully grown adult, you don't have to take on basic tasks for me," he said. He did get back on the bed and even laid back.

"Yes, you are not my ex-husband," Amy said. "So I don't mind taking care of you occasionally. Pay me back in sex."

"Absolutely," Jonah murmured, his eyes already closed.

They had a pleasant enough dinner with Jonah's dad and Sharon. Sharon was actually quite sweet. Amy said, "So how many people are coming to this Passover dinner?"

"A lot," Jonah said.

"All the kids," Jonah's dad said. "Their wives. The six kids. Jonah's aunt Tillie, her daughter Lila, two junior associates from the firm. 22 total."

"That's actually small, compared to when I was a kid," Jonah said.

"Your mother's side of the family all came," Jonah's dad said. "They're all in Florida now. They're all in Miami to be specific."

Jonah nodded. "That's where I went to Passover two years ago," Jonah said. "It was nice to see Nana and Pop Pop."

"Barry and Mara will live forever," Jonah's dad said, smiling. "Great in-laws. Did you like your in-laws, Amy?"

Jonah frowned. Amy said, "I liked them when I was married to Adam. Once we split, they were less pleasant. It's easier to blame me than their son. They're great with Emma, though. My parents love Jonah, it's embarrassing."

Sharon said, "But when you get married -"

"Nope," Jonah said. "Let's not put pressure on Amy, okay?"

"Or you," Jonah's dad said.

"Sure, or me," Jonah said. "I'd appreciate that, too."

"You've been dating for nearly a year," Jonah's dad said.

"Yes, nine months is nearly a year," Jonah said.

"Let's move on," Sharon said.

Then they talked about musicals for the rest of the meal. After, Amy sat on the bed in her pajamas while Jonah was out somewhere in the apartment. She called Emma and left a message. She called Cheyenne and told her about New York City. "All I've really seen is the airport, though. And when we drove here to Jonah's home. Which is the entire floor of a swanky building. It's like 4 or 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms."

Jonah came in with what Amy guessed was a photo album. Amy said, "Gotta go, sweetie. Give Harmonica a hug for me."

"Hi, Cheyenne," Jonah said.

"Already hung up," Amy said. "Whatcha got there?"

"Photo album," Jonah said. He sat down next to her. "I looked through yours with your mother, so it just seemed fair."

She looked through it with him. "First, you were an adorable child. Second, your mom was pretty. Third, you really wore that in high school, huh?"

"I really did," Jonah said. "Do we have time for loud sex or do you just want to go to sleep now?"

"Sex, definitely, loud sex, no. I'm a guest here," Amy said.

Jonah frowned again. It wasn't his best look. She stayed quiet, though, and he did as well, even though it was pretty fantastic sex. After they were clean and under the covers again, she said, "Did you lose your virginity in this room? I know it wasn't on this mattress, but now I'm thinking about it."

"Yes, yes, I did. I was 15, actually. Probably too young," Jonah said.

"I was 16," Amy said. "Not Adam. It wasn't like, Adam and then divorce."

"You always make sure people know that," Jonah said. "I know you were hot in high school, Amy. Adam clearly dated up."

"Thank you," Amy said. "Who did you do it with in this room, on a worse mattress, decorated with, what, Alyssa Milano posters?"

"No posters, Amy, have you seen this apartment? I could put framed pictures up but no posters allowed. I put one on the back of the door from Wicked. Oddly enough, her name was Renee."

"Oh my God," Amy said. "Not my Renee."

"Uh, was it Renee Goldfarb?"

"No, it wasn't. That name is not sexy, maybe it's just me."

"She was," Jonah said. "She was 16, and she'd done it before. Which was really helpful, because I was not immediately competent."

"That's one way to say it," Amy said. "Me and Gage were both virgins. Neither of us were anything like competent."

In the morning, Jonah and Amy both asked if they could help but Sharon sent them out and told them not to come back until 3 pm or so. Amy didn't want to do stupid tourist things or get weird food you had to stand in line for. Jonah checked out the website where things were filming and they went to two of those. Amy was almost sure she saw Emma Stone.

For lunch, Amy said, "Let's go somewhere with vegan food. I want to take a picture for Dina. Like, thinking of you! And also, ha ha, can't get this in St. Louis, can you?"

"I like the way you think," Jonah said. He checked his phone and then led her to the subway. It looked just like in the movies or 8 million TV shows she'd watched. She tried to subtly take a picture to show Emma, though.

When they got to the restaurant, they had to wait about 10 minutes. Jonah said, "Hey, do you mind if I invite Eli's wife? She works right around here and she's pretty nice."

"As opposed to?"

"Caleb's wife is pretty much universally regarded in the family as a very unpleasant person. She hates me for no reason," Jonah said.

"I love you, and I can think of reasons," Amy said.

"I was 14 when she met me, and she hated me 5 minutes into the conversation," Jonah said. "Leah's on her way down."

The waiter seated them and gave them their menus. Amy said, "Whoa. You're paying, right?"

"Of course I am," Jonah said.

Leah was cute and looked really well manicured and like her haircut cost more than Amy had set aside for Emma's college. Which was not a lot, but it was more than $100. Leah hugged Jonah and smiled, so apparently that was a step up from Caleb's hellwife.

Amy said, "I'm going to wait for our food to come to take a picture for Dina, I don't want her to see how much you're paying."

"Good plan," Jonah said.

"Are you a vegan now? I keep hearing all these outrageous stories about you," Leah said. She said it nicely, though, Amy didn't feel defensive.

"I am not a vegan," Jonah said. "None of the stories are true except that I do work at Cloud 9. No other big changes. Oh, and Amy. I don't know what people are saying about Amy. It better be nice."

"Eli thinks you're hot," Leah said. "You, Amy. There was the picture on Jonah's Instagram where you were in a tight shirt."

Amy blushed. "Thanks?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad," Leah said. "How much are you dreading tonight, huh?"

"So fucking much," Jonah said.

"Less than that, but a little dread has crept in," Amy said.

"You won't be the main focus of conversation until dinner," Leah said. "Then it'll be 100 questions. I'd expect some veiled racism, lots of implications of gold digging, and simultaneous pressure to convert and give Jonah babies."

"Don't forget, they're going to talk a lot about how I'm too good for Cloud 9, and won't care about the implications regarding you," Jonah said.

"You know, Leah? This is more positive than what he said when he invited me," Amy said.

Leah was funny and Amy actually had a good time. As they were winding down, another waiter walked over and said, "Amelia Sosa! What is my sweet cousin doing here?"

"Darius, wow, did I know you live in New York City now? Come over here," Amy said, in Spanish. They hugged.

Darius said, "I've been here for two years, I'm finally making good money at this hippie heaven."

Amy realized they'd been chattering in Spanish and Jonah had probably only caught about 40%. Maybe his comprehension had improved to 60%. She said, in English, "Jonah, Leah, this is my cousin, Darius."

"Technically, second cousin," Darius said. Darius went back to Spanish. "Oh, is this the fancy rich boyfriend? Your mom brags about him."

"I am the rich boyfriend," Jonah said, in his clearly taught over enunciated Spanish.

Darius was still smiling. "And humble, your humble rich boyfriend."

"I'm not super rich," Jonah said, back to English.

"Good enough," Amy said.

They said their goodbyes to Leah and started heading home. Jonah showered first and changed into his nice suit. He ditched the blazer and tried on a vest. "Is this too pretentious? I want to be a guy who can pull off a vest."

"You look nice," Amy said. She tugged at her dress. "Do I look okay?"

"You look beautiful," Jonah said.

"That's helpful," Amy said. "Thank you."

Eventually the whole crowd came in. Caleb's wife just looked like a nasty person, even before she opened her mouth and asked Amy if she was Jonah's 'girl.' She said it like girl was the same word as shit. Amy smiled because she knew snooty assholes from work. She could take it.

The table filled up and Amy sat next to Jonah. She looked around and realized she was literally the only person in the room who wasn't white. It wasn't something she usually experienced. Her school, Cloud 9, the places she hang out at home, none were as blindingly white as this dinner. She should have invited Darius.

The first part of the dinner wasn't so bad. Amy had been reading haggadot since Jonah had invited her. She'd even learned the word haggadot. She liked the kids under 12 the best of the other guests, and Jonah, of course. It was all weird and some people were easily reading Hebrew which was a super guttural language. In a good way, she thought towards Jonah.

Caleb and Beatrice were absolutely the biggest assholes there. Apparently, everyone else agreed with Amy, even their oldest kid, Colin.

Dinner was delicious and Amy made sure to say so to Sharon. Sharon smiled and said, "Family recipe. For all of it. And from all the families."

Eli said, "Thankfully Mom taught one of us to do the matzoh balls right."

Beatrice opened her mouth and Jonah said, "And we're not going to make racist comments about the kind of family recipes in Amy's family, right, Beatrice?"

"God, Jonah," Beatrice said. "You're so sensitive. And you make mean assumptions. I wasn't going to say anything. How do you even survive working in Missouri in a WalMart?"

"Cloud 9," Jonah said. "We're the ones with the former cannibal mascot."

Amy giggled. "That was a fun day."

Leah said, "The day your cannibal mascot was exposed?"

"I dared Amy to wear the costume and tell our manager that she was -"

"Standing up for the cannibal lifestyle," Amy said. "And I dared you to stay in the freezer for three minutes."

"You guys have fun at work," Caleb said.

"Actually yes," Jonah said. "Sometimes."

"Glenn would be so happy you said that," Amy said. "Dina would be so mad."

"I'm sure you have lots of great coworkers," Caleb said.

Things went downhill from there. After 10 minutes Amy just stood up and said, "Hey, I need to call my daughter." Jonah looked at her like he was apologizing and wishing he could go with her.

Amy called Emma using the video feature, she wanted a friendly non white face. Emma said, "Are you having fun?"

"I saw Darius at the restaurant we went to today, do you remember him?" Amy rearranged herself on the bed, sitting cross-legged.

"Yeah, that's awesome," Emma said. "Is Jonah having fun?"

"God, no," Amy said. "Some of his family suck."

"Yeah, he said that. When we were watching Avatar. You should watch with us, Mom. Then I could just say, Jonah said his oldest brother was like this awful character," Emma said.

"When I get home, we can watch it. Start from the first episode," Amy said.

Emma said, "Okay, good. But we are totally starting from the first episode and you can't watch any without me. Also, when you get married, I vote we don't invite Jonah's sucky relatives."

"Whoa, kiddo," Amy said. "I don't know what's going to happen between the two of us. I mean, I hope things happen like that. You're okay with it, though, I take it."

"I am," Emma said. "I hope you get married before Dad and Shelly."

"It's not a contest," Amy said. "Your dad really loves Shelly. And she really loves him and she loves you. I hope they're very happy."

Emma shrugged. "Shelly tries too hard."

"Because she likes you," Amy said.

"I hope the rest of the visit is more fun," Emma said.

"I love you," Amy said.

"Same," Emma said.

Jonah came into the room and said, "Bye, Emma."

"Already hung up again," Amy said.

"Sorry my family sucks. You can stay in here for the rest of the night, if you want."

"I don't want to leave you alone. Plus, I've worked with more unpleasant people," Amy said.

The rest of the dinner wasn't horrible. Mostly, people stuck to reading from the haggadah. After they finally finished, Jonah and his brothers were the first to stand up and offer to help clean. Even horrifying Caleb. Good boys, she thought. Leah sat down next to Amy. "Did we scare you off? Jonah seems like he's in a really good place with you."

"Nope," Amy said. "I mean, he's rich and good in bed." Amy rubbed her hands together. "Four glasses of wine, wasn't it?"

"Eli's good in bed, too," Leah said. "I assume Caleb's awful. Just on principle."

"I refuse to speculate about his sex life. Or think about him," Amy said. "Maybe we can get away with not inviting him to the wedding. If we ever get married. If that happens. Wow, I need to go to bed."

Leah actually hugged her. "I hope you get married, I want you in the family."

"You're so sweet," Amy said. She went back to the room where Jonah first had sex. She took off her clothes and left them on the floor. She took a short shower because wow, it was a nice bathroom. And a nice shower. It must have been upgraded like the rest of the room. She put on clean underwear. She started randomly opening drawers. She already knew Jonah's clothes barely fit her. "The only reason to miss Adam," she murmured. She rooted through Jonah's bag. She found his boycott cloud 9 shirt and put that one on. Then she jumped on the bed and opened her phone while she waited for Jonah.

He woke her up and said, "You look adorable."

"Are you all done? We don't have to see those people again, right?"

Jonah smiled. "Just Dad and Sharon. They're coming to Dear Evan Hansen with us tomorrow, remember? We'd have much shittier tickets if they weren't."

"I am so excited about seeing a musical on Broadway. And a really good one, it's a really good one, right?"

"The reviews are super positive," Jonah said. "Then we get on plane and you never have to see my family again."

"I'll see them again. If we get married, right?"

Jonah turned his back on her and said, "I guess, theoretically."

"No, not theoretically. Let's stop dancing around this, Jonah. I love you and you love me and Emma likes you and where else is this relationship going? We're bonding. We've met each other's families, and we can put up with them. I feel comfortable saying, I can see us getting married, honey." Amy smiled. She was feeling very brave. She'd slept off some of the wine but she had enough in her to not act like Amy who hated change and took too long at act.

Jonah turned around and smiled at her. He said, "Really? I can, I can definitely see us getting married. I would love that. Maybe we could move in together or something. if Emma's okay with it."

"We could. We could start looking when we get home," Amy said. "We can even get one of those, what are they called? The little metal thing that has the scroll in it. We can put it on the door. Maybe we can buy one here. Why don't you have one in your apartment?" She sat up in bed.

"A mezuzah? I do have one. But my neighborhood, you know, sometimes I don't want to put the one I have, a family antique from Lithuania, actually, on the door. I feel like some of my neighbors don't love Jews, really," Jonah said. "I think the people who live upstairs from me are white nationalists, actually."

"We definitely need to move in together. Someplace without Nazis," Amy said. "We can have the mezuzah, maybe we can get 3 bedrooms?"

"You want a room to study?"

Amy said, "You're being very dense."

"Oh." Jonah blinked a few times. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Amy said. "I am seriously saying maybe we get married in the future and I would convert and we would have little Jewish Honduran American babies. They'd have fantastic hair. But maybe first we just get an apartment together."

Jonah said, "I would like that. As soon as we get home."


	5. Chapter 5

Amy was watching some shifty teenagers and hating herself for turning into Dina. Garrett rolled over with today's new hire. "This here is Amy, she's the assistant manager. Before you ask, she's engaged - only managers get to wear jewelry around here. You will never guess which guy around here she's engaged to. Never guess. Okay, it's the pale little elf guy at the nearest register."

"His name is Jonah," Amy said. "Hey, Garrett, I was just thinking about your ex, like right now. If there's any suspicion of employee theft or too much shrinkage, she'll be barreling in here in her work suit, ready to interrogate you and maybe even use her taser. Did you like that taser, Garrett?"

"Oh, am I upsetting you?" Garrett smiled. "If you're upset, I don't need to be the best man at your wedding or anything. Jonah has brothers."

"Shut up, shut up, you are the best man, Cheyenne is the maid of honor, no siblings allowed anywhere near our wedding," Amy said.

"Apparently, Jonah's older brother is a completely disgusting human being," Garrett said. "It works out well for me."

Amy said, "Hey, new guy, you need to get trained on the register, go over to Cheyenne, with the pink hair. And you met the shift supervisor, right?"

New guy nodded. "Mateo, yeah, we met. He said I have to shave my mustache."

"You don't have to," Amy said. "But I would ask yourself how attached to it you are."

New guy went to the register. Garrett said, "I wish Dina hadn't erased that tape. I'd love to show it to every new hire."

"That's disgusting," Amy said.

Garrett said, "All you can see is your butt, Jonah's the one with the full frontal exposure. Was the one."

"She did erase it and you shouldn't have watched it," Amy said. Jonah hadn't planned on proposing at work but then the ring fell out and Amy said yes and they banged in the warehouse and Dina and Garrett had watched the security tape before Amy forced Dina to erase it. It hadn't stopped the constant "Grow-er not a show-er, huh?" comments before Dina was thankfully promoted to Cloud 9 corporate security.

Garrett smirked as he left. Jonah came over and slid his phone over to her. "Look what I found."

Amy looked down. It was a listing for a house. "Are we ready for a house?"

"This one has four bedrooms and four and a half baths. There's a full bathroom and a separate entrance to the basement so we would have that to offer Cheyenne next time she leaves Bo with the kids, because I know that's important to you," Jonah said. "And this room would be Emma's, see? There's a little nook she can have her own little Christmas tree, you know, when it's time for that."

Amy looked through pictures. "We'd have a longer commute."

"Slightly longer commute, a few minutes," Jonah said. "Besides, you're six months away from graduating with your Bachelor's and you promised me you would look for a different job then. So it will only be a longer commute for me, really. In the grand scheme of things."

"Because you're never leaving here," Amy said, nearly laughing.

"I like it here," Jonah said. "Even if Mateo's assistant manager after you get a great job with your degree."

"You're so positive," Amy said. She covered his hand with hers. "I kinda love that."

"Thank God," Jonah said. "I know I'm dating up here, so, really, whatever it takes for you to stay with me."

Amy was momentarily overwhelmed with love and all she could do was smile at him, her favorite dork in the world. She said, "We should definitely look at this place."

"Absolutely," Jonah said.


End file.
